


Lost Stars

by captaincreampuff



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, But to who, Everyone that's who, Hunk is Balmeran, I mean clearly but like full Galra, Is that how you say it? Balmeran? Whatever, Lance and Shiro are Altean, M/M, Matt and Pidge are Olkari, Thace and Ulaz are pretty much supportive dads, keith is galra, oh and its tagged teens and up bc of swearing sorry guys, the title and chapter names are straight from the song lost stars, yay they're all aliens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-27 20:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10816335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captaincreampuff/pseuds/captaincreampuff
Summary: In a world plagued by the Galra empire, the Castle of Lions is being well kept by the ignorance of the young prince. Little does he know, the world he knew was long gone, replaced by a desolate landscape he once called home. His caretaker, Shiro, sets off to find a Galra accused of breaking into the castle, and Lance is left to befriend creatures he never even knew were real. He is shown how much Lotor, the emperor of the Galra empire, has demolished so much life. Lance is ready to defend his kingdom, but an unsuspecting friend is right behind him the whole way.





	1. Who Are We?

Lance, for all his life, figured that not being able to leave the castle walls was something normal. It all made sense, what his mother had told him.

" _It's dangerous out there,_ " his mother, Allura, who was queen before she left on a mission and never returned, had told him through a hologram she left at the castle to keep him company. " _There are thieves all over Altea. They especially would target you, you're easy to spot out,_ " the hologram smiled at him at that, he knew that was Allura's way of saying " _you're too beautiful to resist"._

But he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to prance around the grasses he always sees outside of the castle when he looks out his window, and buy things from all the market places scattered around the square, or meet new people other than the select few who are allowed in the castle. Sure, Shiro was fun. He was interesting to listen to, and pretty much knew _everything_ Lance was curious about. Shiro was left by Allura to help take care of Lance as he reached his late teenage years, he was Altean like Lance was, which was no surprise. This was Altea, after all. But Lance had seen so many creatures get welcomed into the castle by Shiro himself. " _Alteans believe in peace first,"_ Shiro had told him after another session with an unknown alien. " _That's what your mother always said."_

The aliens were always looking for help, help from something called the ' _Galra_ ', Lance had not a clue what that could be. The aliens mostly were asking for princess Allura, but Shiro had to reluctantly tell them that she was off doing her own thing, whatever that meant, but Lance was happy to help. And the aliens always refused, they needed _Allura,_ they insisted. The queen. After that, they usually left. Well, apart from one. A strange creature named Slav, who, out of what Lance could tell, was too scared to leave the castle.

But Lance never really questioned what the Galra were. He had asked Shiro once, he made a face of grimace and told him that he thought that might be a question he'd have to wait and ask his mother about. He didn't ask Shiro again after that happened. Sometimes he just needed to not know things for his own good, but that didn't stop him from wondering. He knew that sometime Shiro needed some alone time, which was understandable, Lance needed it too. It was easy to find in the practically empty castle, and Lance had to admit Slav's babbling about alternate dimensions could get kind of annoying. Lance never knew for sure why Shiro got stressed out so much, though. Maybe he was worried something bad would happen. Maybe he was worried about the _Galra_.

But free opportunities in their days were running slim, more and more creature sought help from them, some were relieved to find there were living people in the castle (Lance was confused by this, he swore he's seen other Alteans outside the castle) some were disappointed that Allura wasn't present anymore. She had left years ago, and it was strange that the news hadn't came to them yet. The small amount of free time they had to relax was starting to put a toll on Shiro. He was irritable when he didn't mean to be, sometimes woken up many times in the middle of the night just to deal with aliens who were only going to leave anyways. Lance could see he wasn't getting enough sleep, and sometimes he would pass out when Lance wasn't looking. He felt bad for Shiro.

Slav was no help, though. He always told Shiro that ' _if you don't get enough sleep, you could pass out onto the ground and hurt yourself, and blah, blah, blah!'_ this didn't really help Shiro's situation, though. If Lance was being honest, he could see that it was making it worst. Lance wanted to address the issue of Shiro not getting enough rest to help all the creatures that happen to come to the castle. He really wanted to. But he had a feeling in his gut that just kept yelling _no no no._ Maybe it's because he was always given the same response: _you'll have to wait to ask your mother that._ He always heard that when he asked about something _important._

But one day Lance saw that he didn't need to address the issue. He didn't know it at the time, though. He was all of a sudden woken up one night to flashing red lights and an alarm. This has never happened before, so Lance knew he had a right to be worried. His heart began pounding in his chest as he ripped his covers off abruptly, running out the sliding doors of his room. All the otherwise blue lights in the hallways were flashing a red hue, so Lance followed the all too familiar path to the flight deck. Lance's bare feet were cold on the metal of the castle floors, and he missed the warmth of his blankets. But he pushed forward, running into the open room that Shiro was already in.

Shiro was dressed and ready for whatever was there waiting for them, even if Lance could tell he didn't know exactly what it was either. He was tapping away at one of the control panels, looking through different surveillance cameras throughout the castle. Shiro jerked around at the sound of Lance's footsteps, and he laughed nervously.

"Prince Lance! I think you should go back to sleep, you really need it. This is nothing, just... just some sort of malfunction, I'll take care of it in no time-" Shiro was cut off when he saw a hooded figure run past the sight of one of the cameras on the screen, and his mouth thinned into a line. Lance could feel his blood run cold when he saw whatever had set off the alarms on the camera. It was big. "Lance. Go back to your room. Now."

Lance knew it meant business if Shiro had only called him ' _Lance',_ and not added his honorific. He nodded shakily, stepping back a few feet, just to take a quick peek at the camera that showed the creature, who must have been long gone from that area by now, before turning on his heel and sprinting out of the room in time to catch a last glance of Shiro, who had slammed his hand down on a red button. The button, he noticed, turned on a security sweep of the surrounding area. So if they didn't catch whatever was in the castle on their own, the castle itself would take care of it.

As he made his way back to his room, he could feel his heart racing uncontrollably in his chest, suddenly confined. He couldn't remember the last time he was this scared. No one has ever broken into the castle, although Lance doesn't know exactly how they get in. Probably through the large castle door no one can miss. Lance sure hasn't. Sometimes he wonders if he could just open them just to breath in the fresh, open air, but he knows the castle is watching him at all times, so he doesn't. But this alien that was in the castle didn't get in through the doors, that's for sure. And it doesn't seem like it knows that no one but Lance, Shiro, and Slav are here.

So he just focuses on the small tapping noise his bare feet make on the floor of the castle, trying to find a way to his room where he wouldn't run into the creature in the castle. But, almost on cue, he rounded a sharp corner, and bumped harshly into something he swore was never there before. He was thrown to the ground by the sheer force of the collision, " _Quiznak!_ " he exclaimed in surprise, the pain of the hit finally registering, and he rubbed his head with a groan, before looking up to see the glowing yellow eyes of what knocked him down. The creature stood, unfazed by the sudden appearance of the Altean prince. Before he could let out a scream for help, the creature laid a fur cover, clawed hand over his mouth, picking him up surprisingly easy for the size of the creature. Sure, it was tall, a lot taller than anything Lance has ever seen for such an Altean like alien, but it was thin underneath the cloak, and from what Lance could tell, it didn't have a lot of muscle.

Lance could just barely hear his muffled cries for help over the blaring sounds of the alarm, that was still going off, and the blood rushing in his ears. But he can hear the creature carrying him and running away quietly let out a _hush!_ sound, and Lance obliges reluctantly. He had not clue what this creature was capable of, and he definitely didn't want to make it angry if it could tear him to pieces in less than a tick. So, Lance does the only thing that comes to his mind at that fleeting moment: he gingerly slicks out his tongue and licks the creatures hand that was covering his mouth. He cringes at the overwhelming taste of copper that he could only recognize as blood. Some fur was probably stuck on his tongue, which made him want to gag, but it was all he could think to do.

He feels himself be thrown down on a surface softer than he expected. He recognized the room as _his_ room, and he suddenly felt relieved. The creature who had thrown him down was looking down at the hand Lance had just licked, and the latter wanted to laugh, but he already heard the creature doing it. It was laughing. But Lance also heard a very fake, and over dramatic retching noise. The voices sounded completely different, but the only two in the room where Lance, and the creature. He tried not to think much of it, especially not in the heat of the moment.

The creature stops to look down at him, the voices faltering. There was whispering he couldn't make out over the alarms that were still blaring. Then Lance noticed that he could easily locate an intercom in his room and call for help, but he figured that would be too risky. He instead chose to look at the creature yellow eyes, glowing over the red of the alarms. Those eyes narrowed momentarily, and with the wave of a cloak Lance swore was green, even without the lights and the blinding darkness, the creature was gone. Not even moments later, the alarms were, too. It was out of the castle, and he took a moment to let out a sigh of relief.

Lance sat there, dumbfounded, for who knows how long. He had almost no clue what had happened, and he had so many questions to ask, but no way to get any answers without tracking down the creature again. Nope, that wasn't happening. He thought about it for a while, until the aforementioned intercom in his room beeped, and Shiro's voice spoke up.

' _Lance?'_ he said, his voice laced with concern. ' _You alright in there?'_

The Altean prince smiled, glad to know that Shiro sounded fine, "Yeah, I'm good. The thing's gone now." he replied, running a still-shaking hand through his white hair.

_"Great. We can talk in the morning. Now get some rest, please.'_ Shiro said, sounding like a dad, like always. Lance couldn't complain. He made stupid decisions all the time, it was nice to know that Shiro had his back no matter what.

"I guess I could say the same to you." Lance snorted, but he didn't sound like he was joking at all. He wasn't, Shiro needed sleep as much as he did, if not more. Once the intercom buzzed, signifying that Shiro had signed off, Lance settled back in his bed, staring at the ceiling. Almost an hour passed, and the sound of his door sliding open made him jump, followed by a familiar sigh of relief. Slav entered his room, and climbed up into Lance's bed next to him. Sometimes Lance let him do this when he was afraid, or if Lance had a nightmare and didn't want to go to bed alone. They didn't speak about it, but Lance thought it was good to have the company at nights like this.

He let himself drift off to sleep, not really knowing what to ask or tell Shiro in the morning. But that stress could wait, Lance was tired. Slav never left while he slept, and Lance was comforted by the warmth that was the strange space creature. He often wondered what Slav was, exactly. But he never asked. He just enjoyed one more person to talk to in the castle other than Shiro, even if Slav could get scared by the smallest thing. Lance slept well, for the most part. He guessed the whole intruder ordeal was quite late in the night, so getting only a few vargas of sleep was likely, since he trained himself to wake up as early as possible to help around the castle. But getting picked up and carried by the creature that broke in left him in a restless sleep. Why hadn't it attacked him? How did it know exactly where his room was? Why was it here? He asked himself those questions the entire time he tried to get some shut eye, but his mind provided no answers.

Lance had never experience anything like this before. Sure, he's had a couple of aliens in the castle be a little violent when they found out the queen wasn't here anymore, but Shiro was always quick to take care of it. But, this time, Shiro seemed scared to see the creature. He's never seen Shiro scared before, actually, and it made him scared too. Maybe Shiro knew exactly what it was, and that's why he was afraid. All arrows in Lance's mind pointed to the Galra's doing, but Shiro had always told him they were safe from them

But why was it here, exactly? It didn't seem to be interested in talking to Shiro _or_ Lance, and it didn't look like it stole anything. All of the castles materials were rather large, or small parts that need to be in large quantities in able to work well. Or the castle had some useless things, some Altean plants and such. But nothing valuable seemed to have been taken. Lance would ask about it in the morning, hoping he'd get an actual answer. For now, he just slept.

-

When Lance woke, thankfully, the alarms were off, the lights were back to blue, and Shiro was sitting in the living area on the couch. Lance walked in, Slav crawling close behind him, and he earned a quiet ' _good morning, prince Lance_ ' from Shiro, who was clearly tired. He probably didn't do what Lance had asked him to, which disappointed Lance. Shiro really needed to catch up on his sleep.

"Did you... catch the intruder?" Lance asked cautiously, taking a seat on the couch across from Shiro's. He knew the answer to this, but Shiro didn't know he did, so he had to ask. He also needed some way to start conversation, just so he could get the answers he's actually looking for.

"Not probable. That guy was _fast_!" Slav cut in, throwing his arms up in exclamation. Lance jumped a bit, forgetting the strange alien was even in the same room as them.

"Hate to admit it, but it was pretty fast," Shiro said tiredly, rubbing his eyes as he shifted in his seat so he was sitting up more. "But, no. I didn't catch him. We have no idea what he's capable of. Did you get back to your room alright like I told you to?" Shiro shot back, and Lance could tell he knew the answer to this question as well. Quiznak.

Lance pursed his lips, something he always did when he was about to lie, "Yup! It was all good where I was running back. He must have been gone by then or something." He lied nervously, running his fingers through his white hair. He knew for a fact that Shiro knew he was lying, since the older of the two knew him so well. He practically raised him.

"Lance, did you get back to your room alright like I told you to?" Shiro repeated, and Lance knew he was really in for it this time, because he was using his dad voice. Lance really hated that voice sometimes.

Lance sighed in defeat, "Nope," he said simply, and before Shiro could ask, he continued, "I ran into the guy that sneaked in." Shiro gaped at him, sitting up in shot, taking a breath to say something, "H-He was nice though! I guess." Lance said quickly, before Shiro could pressure him to let him check up and down for any sign of injury. He also did that a lot, even if it was clear Lance was perfectly fine.

Shiro stared at him, wide eyed. "You _talked to it?_   It was nice to you? What did it say?" he pressed, leaning forward in his seat in interest.

Lance shifted his legs awkwardly, biting and releasing his bottom lip over and over. "Well, I didn't exactly talk to him." the memory made him shiver slightly, "I bumped into him, I fell down real hard, it hurt my ass--"

"Language." Shiro spoke up.

 " _Sorry--_ and I was gonna yell for help, but he covered my mouth with his hand. It was covered in fur and tasted like blood,"

"You licked his hand." Shiro said bluntly.

"Let me finish," Lance held up a finger before continuing, "He was carrying me somewhere. At first I thought he was gonna take me outside the castle, I remember him hushing me because I was still yelling behind his hand, uh... he carried me back to my room, he laughed at the fact I licked his hand--"

"I would too."

"Hush, you--and then left... that was it." Lance shrugged after he finished, shifting his legs again.

"It... didn't attack you? At all?" Shiro reached across the space between the two couches to lift up Lance's arms, checking for injury--because Lance would never tell him if a random space creature that _seemed_ nice had attacked him, and because Shiro was pretty much an over protective dad. When he found none, he sat back on his own couch, "So I guess we have no choice..." he mumbled, "If it got past the castle's defenses without me noticing until the alarms went off, then we have to find it and see what it wants. Do you have any idea what this creature looks like? If it took off so quickly it may still be on this planet." Shiro seemed on edge, it shocked Lance since the older Altean always knew what he was doing. It was what he was raised to do, be a leader and to raise Lance to be the same way. 

Except Lance never knew what he was doing. He _never_ blamed Shiro for not teaching him correctly. Shiro taught him wonderfully, in fact, Lance was just a slow learner. He never blamed Shiro at all. Since his mother left, he often saw himself blaming things, sometimes things that aren't even alive, sometimes he even saw himself on the other end of the blame, but he never once pointed a finger at Shiro. "I-I, uh... he had fur. And claws. I remember feeling claws when he picked me up, and fur when he covered my mouth... uh... He had a cape on, he might have changed by now, but you know... uh," Lance babbled, almost incoherent words leaving his mouth. Shiro took notice of Lance's nervous behavior.

He heard Shiro take a deep breath. "Alright. If you remember anything else, tell me. I'll leave by nightfall. That's probably when he'll be out. I'll use as much power in the castle as I can to make the barrier stronger so he won't get in. That means the lights will be off, and almost everything else we don't absolutely need." Shiro got up and handed Lance a small device he didn't recognize. It was small, but looked like an intercom. "If he somehow does, contact me with this. Hide in your room, don't let anyone in--"

"What about me?!" Slav exclaimed suddenly, making Lance jump a little in his seat.

Shiro rubbed his face tiredly, groaning, "No. Not even you, Slav. I'm sorry, but we can't take any chances." Slav looked scared and a little sad, but he didn't protest. Lance had been trying to teach him not to be scared by every little thing. He was getting better, but still had a fear of water. "I want you in your room before I leave, just in case," Shiro explained, making Lance groan.

"Why? I could always just run back when the alarms go off." Lance protested, puffing his cheeks out like a child. He hated being locked up in his room for too long, and he wanted to go outside with Shiro.

"The castle will probably be dark since I'm making all power available go towards the barrier outside, and--" Shiro stopped, still acting like there was something Lance didn't want to see. Lance saw the older Altean purse his lip, before mumbling a quick '' _I'll see you at lunch, Prince Lance.'_ and stormed out before there was even a chance for Lance to ask what else he wanted to say.

So, the Altean prince resorted to doing what he always did around the castle when there was nothing to do: going to the large windows near the doors of the castle, and looking down to the city looming below.

Lance always wondered what it would be like to go out there, meet all  the people that populated his kingdom, hang out with all the kids his age, wonder what it was like to be anything but _Lance, prince of Altea._ He remembers back when his mother was still here, they would always go to the small market place down the hill and buy things from the shops. But once Allura left, that meant no going outside, at all. Lance always did whatever his mother would tell him, but he still couldn't help but want to go out there again.

There were footsteps coming up behind him, and he expected to see Slav out of the corner of his eye to ask him what he was doing (which always had the same answer, Slav asked anyway, each and every time Lance came out here) but, to Lance's surprise, the question nor Slav ever came. Instead, Shiro came to the right side of him, leaning his arms against the frame of the window. Lance was still a bit bitter with the older Altean, but he kept his poker face on.

"Lance," Shiro spoke up after a few minutes of comfortable silence, and the peace was shattered. 

Lance forced himself to stop looking out the window, and instead met Shiro's gaze, who gave him a shaky smile, but it dropped after barely a tick.

"Well, uh... I know it's a touchy subject, but... I feel like your mother knew something like this would happen. I just thought I had more time to prepare." Shiro rubbed his eyes, and Lance could swear he could see them misting in the light from outside. Uh oh.

"What... what do you mean?" Lance asked, feeling like he knew the answer already, but he really wasn't prepared for it.

"Your mother left..." Shiro paused to cough, "Your mother left to destroy an empire of aliens that were thirsty for blood and the resources of others' planets. She left, and never came back--"

"I already knew that part." Lance spat, looking out the window with a glare. Shiro was right, this was a touchy subject. He never really liked talking about his mother disapearing, and Shiro knew that. The place by the window was supposed to be his safe place, but he sure didn't feel safe. He made a move to turn and leave, but Shiro wrapped a protective arm around his shoulder. Lance struggled at first, but figure what Shiro was telling him was important, so he stayed still and waited for Shiro to continue.

"As I was saying... after that, the aliens she went to destroy invaded Altea." Shiro explained, pausing to let Lance process what he said.  _No, wait..._

"But..." Lance started, his words dying in his throat. He looked out the window, staring down at the city below him. It had always been there, and there were no signs of aliens there. Weren't these creatures suppost to be blood thirsty? But, slowly, steadily, that city flickered, almost like a hologram. Lance could see the blue shapes that made up the barrier around the castle as the city flickered away, leaving a desolate, smokey and dark landscape in it's place, and it made Lance want to throw up, so he looked away, to see Shiro, who was looking at him with a sad expression. It  _was_ just a hologram, all this time.

"That's," Shiro huffed out a sigh, tearing his gaze from Lance's to look down at the barren desert that stood in place of the old Altea. "That's why you were never allow outside the castle." Shiro explained. "The aliens--the Galra--are ruthless. They invade and take and never give back. _Ever._ Allura left you and me in the castle so you would be safe, but she never knew the Galra would destroy almost all of Altea."

Shiro's words make Lance shiver. "Do you think... that the creature that was here... was Galra? Why haven't they found us before that?"

Shiro shook his head slowly, "The castle is mostly invisible from the outside, from a distance. But since the Galra wiped out all plantation on this side of Altea, they've moved to another part. But... yes, I think the creature we saw was Galra. And if this one doesn't mean well, that means we're in big trouble."

"There are Galra that mean good? I thought they were ruthless." Lance recapped, forcing himself to not look at the desolate plains outside the castle windows. Shiro seemed to notice this, so he let the arm around Lance's shoulder drop, and began to lead Lance through the hallways of the castle to get away from the nightmare that was the outside world.

"I don't trust them fully yet, I don't know how I feel about them. The... Blade of Marmora? Yeah, that was the name. They're... pretty much a group of Galra that don't like their leader, Lotor. He's the one controlling them. The Blades are rebels, the good kind. The kind that helps to build such a strong force field for the castle. I met one of them before, but that was when your mother was still here," Shiro laughed out loud, "If she wasn't there, I may have punched the poor guy in the face. He was nice, though. I was a jerk back then."

Violence and Shiro were not things that Lance often saw together, so this surprised him. Even way back when Allura was still around, Shiro wouldn't hurt a fly. "Did you ever catch his name?"

  
"Yeah, his name was Ulaz. He seemed like a pretty nice guy, but you never know. He gave me an intercom to contact him anytime I need help from the Blades, but I have a feeling if I use it, that it might self destruct..."

They both laughed at that, but Shiro handed him another device that was vaguely similar to the other he had given him earlier, "Maybe, just in case... if my com breaks, or..." The last thing went unspoken, but they both knew what it was, "If it doesn't explode, I should send a signal straight to Ulaz and he'll be here in no time. You don't even need to speak with him. Just... be careful with it." Shiro smiled, and walked off, leaving Lance sitting along in the middle of the castle hallways.

-

It was nightfall, and Lance was pacing around his room. The lights were already off, which meant that  Shiro had converted all the power he could for the barrier. He was worried about Shiro's well being, of course. He didn't want the older Altean to leave and get hurt, but not finding the creature that entered the castle might be an even bigger problem. Lance had guessed the older had already left, but his door slid open, and Shiro walked in. Lance let out a silent sigh of relief, and laid down in his bed.

"I'm gonna take off real soon," Shiro said, sitting himself on Lance's bed beside where the prince was laying on his blankets. Lance turned over to face Shiro, and saw that he was wearing some sort of armor. He soon recognized it as one of his mother's suits, it was black and white and it was strange to see Shiro in it, yet it seemed like it was meant for him to wear. it made him look like he was a leader of some sort of army, just like his mother was once. Defenders of the universe, or something.

"Anything you need before I go? You have both intercoms in case something happens?" Shiro asked, fiddling with his fingers almost nervously.

Lance held up both devices to prove without words that he did, indeed, have both coms. "Are you going to be okay out there?" he asked in return, and Shiro sighed.

"I can't say for sure, but I have to find whoever found the castle. It's matter of life or death." Shiro explained, getting up, as if he was going to leave just then. 

But Lance had so much he needed to say, to ask. "I-Shiro, wait," Lance blurted out without even thinking, and Shiro stopped just short of the door, turning his head back to Lance in confusion. "Just... be safe out there. Please." Shiro gave him a reassuring smile, and held a finger up to the blue lights on his helmet covering his temple, and a clear visor slid over his eyes.

"You know I will."

And with that, Shiro walked out, and Lance was left alone in his room.  Lance sat in silence, nothing to be heard but the hums of the generators within the castle, and the faint scuffling of what he could proudly tell everyone was mice. It didn't take long before the lights clicked off, and Lance was left with darkness and the small, dim light of the intercom Shiro had given him. Lance took a deep breath, trying to compose himself and not freak out about being all alone in his room, with Shiro out in the desolate desert that was left of Altea.

 

 


	2. Speck of Dust Within the Galaxy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A creature most foul? Maybe.  
> A creature with a foul mouth? Definitely.

Lance didn’t feel himself drift off to sleep, but he felt himself wake up. There was an insistent pounding at his door that he couldn’t help but overhear. It was loud, almost panicked as if someone was trying to get away from something that was outside. Lance could guess what that might be.

He was going to get up and answer the door, but then he recalled what Shiro had told him. One, the barrier would be a lot stronger and no one would be able to get in. And two, no one was allowed in Lance’s room under any circumstance until Shiro returned, and he knew that the older hadn’t because it had barely been a quintant since he left.

So he sat and listened to the banging at his door. It was getting less and less frequent, though Lance wouldn’t lie if he said he didn’t want it to end. He feared that if he didn’t have a distraction, he would fall asleep and something would happen he wouldn’t hear about. Like, Shiro contacting him and he’s too fast asleep to even notice. He was worried about Shiro. But contacting him right now would be pointless, since whatever was outside could never get into Lance’s room.

He traced the intercoms through the fabric of his clothing. He must have set them in his pocket after Shiro had left, but it seemed to have slipped his mind. The banging on the door stopped suddenly, and Lance held his breath, waiting for something, anything.

He then, in the split moment after silence, heard a shrill scream he recognized all too well. Slav was outside, and he sounded scared to death. Lance was going to leap out of bed and help the other, but at the same time, he wanted to obey Shiro’s direct orders. This could just be a ploy to get Lance out of his room. Slav seemed disappointed to know that Lance wouldn’t be able to hang out if the doors were all locked. But, Lance had that weird gut feeling that told him something was going wrong.

“Slav? What’s going on?” Lance asked, and it was then he realized that Slav was still yelling, but this time it was words that were just barely understandable.

“ _ It’s back! It’s back! It’s back!” _ Slav repeated, his voice faltering as if he were running back and forth in the hallway.

It was then Lance decided to jump into action. He unlocked the door by command, because duh, of course the castle would listen to him, even if Shiro had previously told it not to. The doors slid open in a second and Slav ran inside. Lance could see the shape of the creature he had seen the night before, but he didn’t have the time to realize it was actually different. He just locked the doors again, and him and Slav were met on the insistent pounding against metal yet again.

Lance turned to Slav, “What happened out there?!” he almost shrieked, the same rush in his veins he felt the first time he had witnessed the creature ordeal. Slav was panting, as if he had been running forever. He slouched onto Lance’s bed, trying to relax.

“I heard this banging, over and over, it was  _ so  _ scary! So I thought, there’s at  _ least  _ a 20% chance that’s prince Lance! So I went to investigate, and the creature was at your door. I saw it and it saw me, so I just started running and it worked!” Slav explained, still breathless.

“You screamed a little, too, man.” Lance laughed, despite still knowing the creature was still outside due to the banging noises.

“Did I? I didn’t even notice!” Slav exclaims.

The conversation was cut off by a yell of anger from the beast outside, followed by something that sounded like it kicking Lance’s door. That was followed by swearing. 

‘ _ Well, that’s what it gets for kicking a metal door. Stupid thing.’  _ Lance thought to himself. But he soon took the last part back. If it knew how to get into the castle without even setting off the alarms this time, while the barriers were at full power, it must be a little smart. Maybe even smarter than Lance.

Said creature was getting oddly quiet for it’s obvious fiery nature, so Lance approached the door, pressing his ear up against the cold metal to try and hear what was going on outside. He hears whispers, like the ones he had witnessed from the night before, but it didn’t seem like what he knew he heard. This was more like a one sided conversation.

Lance listened, trying to understand what he could. It was hard through the metal of the door, though he could make out simple things like the repeat of the word ‘ _ stupid’ _ , he heard a brief ‘ _ aristocrats’,  _ the two words probably used together in the same sentence, but Lance didn’t take that in mind.

“I’m gonna go talk to it.” Lance announced to Slav, turning to grab the closest thing to defend himself once he walks out of the room, which happened to be a pillow. Great. Slav only responded to Lance’s sudden proclaim with a sharp intake of breath. Lance then shouted to the castle to unlock the door. It slid open, and the creature fell into the room as if it had been leaning up against the door as well.

It scrambled to it’s feet, dusting itself off awkwardly as if it weren’t doing such things. It seemed strangely civil, and Lance was confused. But as soon as the creature saw Lance, it openly snarled, baring its claws in some sort of warning.

Lance dropped the pillow, figuring it would do nothing to help him against a creature with claws, held up the intercom that led to the Blade of Marmora, because he felt that Shiro might take too long to get back to the castle. The creature seemed confused, staring at the device like it’s never seen anything like it. But at the same time, it looked like it  _ did.  _ It was a familar face that reminded him of the time he had first found the mice in the castle and showed them to Shiro. ‘ _ I haven’t seen these guys in a long time,’  _ he had said. Maybe it’s the same for the one in front of Lance.

The prince took the moment to look over the creature again. It had the cloak, but it was a lot shorter than he remembered. Almost his own height. He remembered it being a lot taller when it had picked him up. “Do you… not remember me?” Lance asked. Because last time he had seen it, it was awfully nice and didn’t seem to want to cause him any harm. But now it had it’s teeth bared and seemed like it was ready to take on an army.

It lost interest in the intercom once Lance started speaking, and in question, it narrowed it’s glowing… grey eyes? Lance could have sworn he recalled them being yellow. He felt like he was going crazy because of this.

“Should I be remembering you from somewhere? I don’t remember meeting an upperclass  _ bullshiter.”  _ A deep voice spat, the creature taking a step forward. Lance held a hand out and raised the intercom higher in warning, and it seemed to stop in it’s tracks due to this.

“You were just here, last night. I bumped into you, I licked your gross hand, which I regret, by the way, how can you not remember?” Lance asked, because now he was confused.

He heard the creature laugh, the sound echoing in the dark room. “No, no, that wasn’t me. Sure, I was here last night, but no one needs to know about that.”  _ Insert well played wink here,  _ Lance thought, “Must have been some other Galra or something. I thought I was the first to run around this shithole, but someone beat me too it. Shucks.” despite the initial sound of it, the creature didn’t seem sad at all that ‘another’-- _ another,  _ Lance pointed out to himself--Galra had wandered around first.

now who was in here? Any clue at all?” Lance questioned, because he was just desperate by now.  _ Two  _ Galra had been in his castle and Shiro was going to try and catch the other. This explained the drastic differences between the two.

“Of course I don’t.”

“I thought all Galra knew each other?” Lance heard a scoff after accusation left his mouth, and he couldn’t help but laugh. He heard Slav try and follow suite in attempt to lighten the mood, but the creature’s eyes flashed with something murderous and he stopped.

“So you lock me out of this room to tease me, accuse me of being someone I’m not--including my race--and proceeded to laugh in my face. Typical. All you bullshit kings and queens are the same, aren’t you?” the Galra spat, and Lance could see the ears on his head lower in anger.

“I’m not… a king, I’m a prince.” Lance explained, backing up slightly because the Galra was advancing on him.

“Doesn’t feel so good to call something you’re not, huh? But good for you, whoopty doo, I’m  _ Galra.”  _ he growled, and Lance shivered at the tone in his voice. This alien was spitting straight malice and Lance hadn’t done anything about it.

So Lance pressed the button on the intercom, and a buzz alerted him that the message had been sent to the Blade of Marmora.

‘ _ A rescue of your choosing will be sent to assist you.’  _ A robotic voice blared out of the device, startling everyone in the room.

“Is that… is that a Blade of Marmora intercom? How’d you even get that? That model is so old.” the Galra almost didn’t seem shocked that had just happened, which worried Lance. Were the Blade of Marmora not even relevant anymore?

“I got it from my adviser.” Lance said frankly, which the Galra thought was funny. The other took a minute to laugh.

“How old is he? 10,000?” the other joked, but Lance wasn’t laughing, so the he brushed it off. “Who’s your ‘ _ rescue of your choosing _ ’? Thace? Cause he won’t do anything. Unless he tells Ulaz, of course.” the Galra shuddered over dramatically.

Lance smiled, but didn’t say anything. He knew Ulaz was going to be the one arriving to help him, it was a good thing this Galra knew who he was and, from what it seemed, was scared of him.

“He should be here in only a few dobashes, the Blades are efficient. So,” the Galra sat cross-legged on the floor, gesturing for Lance to do the same. “I can tell you have questions.” Lance didn’t sit down, which seemed to offend the Galra, or something, because he snarled, “ _ Sit. _ ” The Altean finally complied, and he heard a small thump from behind him which meant Slav had sat down as well.

Lance stared at the ground through the darkness of the room, looking for nothing in particular. He was mostly just buying himself some time so Ulaz could get here and save him from this Galra, who was waiting rather patiently for Lance to start a conversation. Lance, of course, had many things to ask, but he had no idea where to start.

Before he could say anything, there was an almost silent buzz from where the Galra was sitting. Said Galra stared down at a device on his wrist, which was glowing blue. From here, Lance could only see small scriptures he couldn’t recognize.

“My ride’s here. They can’t get through the force field, though.” The Galra looked up to Lance, a totally fake smile on his face, “Would you be so kind to get rid of that so we can leave? Or someone can at least get inside? This is your rescue right here, these guys taking me.” the Galra waved his hand like he was gesturing to something, and waited for Lance to release the force field.

So Lance did, and the lights flickered on with them, since all the power had returned to the castle. He could hear a ship approaching without even having to leave his room, since it was so loud. He looked back to the Galra after a second, and the other was looking at the device on his wrist again.

“Quiznak,” he swore, shaking his head. “Ulaz is here. I’m in for an ass-beating now.” the Galra got up, signaling Lance to do the same. The Altean turned to Slav and told him to stay put for the time being, and following the Galra out of his bedroom.

The Galra navigated through the castle like he had been here all his life. This made Lance worried, because the other had mentioned that he had been here the night before, when the other Galra was here as well. Where could he have hidden where they couldn’t see or hear him?

“Were you hiding in the vents last night?” He questioned the Galra, who’s back was turned to him as he ran.

“Possibly.”

If Lance had known that this guy answered questions as vaguely as possible, then he wouldn’t have asked anything at all.

“ _ Keith!”  _ a booming voice yelled from around a corner in the hallway, startling both Lance and the owner of said name. 

“Other way, run the other way.” Keith, the Galra, ushered Lance to turn around, but Lance didn’t, he watched as a much bigger Galra sprint around the corner, and grab Keith by the back of the cloak. “Traitor!” Keith complained, obviously meaning Lance.

Lance took in the appearance of the Galra that had just walked over. His hair was white, styled to be like a mohawk, his eyes were yellow and glaring holes into the back of Keith’s head. Lance had barely taken into mind that the two were having an actual conversation, but he tuned in.

“--and how long have you been here? You’ve been gone for weeks. Thace thought you may have been captured. Did you make any attempt to contact us?” The Galra, which Lance guess was Ulaz, nagged the smaller of the two. Said smaller Galra had his arms crossed over his chest like a pouty teenager.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry,  _ dad.  _ But I didn’t find the time. I found the prince, and all our soldiers couldn’t find this caslte for  _ three years.  _ I found it in five quintants.” Keith snapped back, and Ulaz shut his mouth that this claim. In response, he yanked down the hood on Keith’s cloak, which revealed the signature fluffy Galra ears, and long black hair.

“Don’t wear hoods inside. It’s rude.” Ulaz retorted. He held up his own wrist, which had the same type of device Keith has, and spoke into it. “We got Keith back,” which made the person on the other side of the message let out a sigh of relief. “We’ve also got the prince. Shiro’s not here.”    


Lance pretending he wasn’t listening to the conversation, so he settled to just talk to Keith. “So, you have a weird name and a mullet. Not what I expected.”

Keith made a face that looked like disgust, “I didn’t expect  _ you  _ to have such an old model of the Blades’ intercom. That thing’s almost older than me. We got rid of them because the stupid designer made it explode when Galra use it, so none of the empire could use it. But literally all of the Blade of Marmora are Galra too, so…”

Lance laughed at that, ‘ _ So Shiro was right, it does explode if you use it. Just not on me.’  _ He thought. That would probably be a good thing to tell the older Altean, when he comes back.

“Uh… Ulaz, right?” Lance asked, getting the attention of the bigger Galra. Ulaz turns to Lance, the device on his wrist now shut off. “Shiro went outside of the castle, he only left last night. He was trying to find something that got in the castle. We… thought it could be a Galra.” Lance explained, shuffling in his spot nervously.

Ulaz simply nods, lifting up his wrist device yet again. “Thace, change of plans. Prepare a search party to find Shiro. He can’t be far from here. I’ll meet you back at the ship.” Ulaz speaks, Thace giving him a sound of acknowledgment, and the device shuts off yet again with an audible click. Ulaz looks to Lance with a look that seemed empathetic. “Don’t worry about Shiro, we’ll be able to find him and the Galra he was searching for in no time."

Lance could only hope Ulaz was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I didn't update on time good for me //crowds screaming//  
> yeah i know, I'll work on it.  
> but this chapter was really tiring to work on and I don't know why? it just seemed like a hassle to write  
> and keith in this chapter was just so ooc he reminded me of myself oopsies. he was just so,,, hostile. and galra. welp, at least i got one part right.  
> also probably a casual reference to rick and morty because i binged watched that series again (for like, the fourth time) so don't mind me  
> but yes next chapter will include some Ulaz and Thace interactions bc i love them and they are probably Keith's parents  
> i will probably be updating on fridays from now on, so look forward to it.  
> feel free to comment any suggestions you would want to see in this fic! you're idea is probably gonna be included tbh.  
> Seamus, out.

**Author's Note:**

> Horray my first fan piece for Voltron *cricket noises* well anyways  
> I have no clue how ao3 works so forgive me, and help my poor soul.  
> buT if you got this far you get a cookie and if you wanna read more, that's greAT because I suck at updating please aid me in keeping a set schedule. The title for this work is literally the title of the song I based this work on "Lost Stars', I like Keira Knightly's cover because it's gentle and soft like Lance.  
> I'm gonna try and make the chapter names lines from the song but if I don't forgive me my children. the names of the chapters might not make sense to the actual plot of it buuuut...  
> catch me on Instagram at @/captaincreampuff ya can't miss it


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